Skewed reporting in times of war is, of course, nothing new. The higher-ups who managed war correspondents have usually found innovative ways to either keep them quiet or make sure they’re singing the right tune. This can happen through the editing process (which it did for a long time) or through restricting/channeling access, such as ’embedding’.

But Twitter and social media have added a new wrinkle by allowing journalists to post their visceral reactions without vetting or censorship. It has in many ways turned the tables for them. At least, until more traditional methods could be applied:

We all carry our own biases into these conflicts, of which we hear and read so much but really know so little. Why can’t the people there on the ground be allowed to fill that void for us with the acuity for observation and communication that put them there in the first place?